Redemption
by TheEndlessHorizon
Summary: Wallace Breen. His name used synonymously with that of the Universal Union, the Administrator controls all Earth-bound Combine forces. Or so it seems. As Dr. Breen is reborn as an infant Advisor, his superiors learn of his failure on Earth. Imprisoned in a pocket dimension as punishment, he must find a way to contact the Resistance, regain his body, and return home.


_This is another story I had in my mind for a long time now, based on Marc Laidlaw's Half-Life fanfiction._

* * *

Wallace Breen was scared. It was an emotion that had he had not experienced since twenty years ago, when the Portal Storms had ravaged the Black Mesa Research Facility.

He had been huddling behind the desk of a nearby employee's office, said employee laying outside in the hallway, dead, when he was offered a job.

Breen had been using a computer terminal, watching a news article on the ongoing Seven Hour War, when one of the electricity aliens had arrived in a green haze.

Breen had ran, unarmed and frightened at his imminent death. He had lost the alien in the Administrative Offices, zig-zagging through the maze of cubicles and hallways to hide in the office.

There was the sound of footsteps, and Breen had only gripped his pistol harder, scrounged near the still-warm corpse of a balding security officer. From then on, his memory had blurred from the passage of time.

There was a man, that much he still remembered. A man in a suit, who had offered him safety- in exchange for services, that is. Breen had agreed without any knowledge of what the job was, eager to escape the death trap that he had once been Administrator of.

It was only when he agreed that the business man told Breen what he was to do. To go against his own species, to become the Human overseer of an alien occupation on Earth.

It was either that, or death; If Breen had known what would transpire, he would have chosen death.

He had been transported, somehow, from the depths of New Mexico to the urban sprawl of New York City, where the remaining US forces were fighting a losing battle. As both sides watched, Breen was forced to orchestrate the "surrender" of all of Humanity, becoming the Administrator of the Universal Union, or so the aliens had called it.

At first, Breen had resisted.

He had fought tooth and nail against the system attempting to improve the lives of captured citizens, only to be confronted by the leaders of the Union themselves.

It was clear, then, that Breen had no choice in what he was supposed to do.

He would act as a puppet leader, seemingly in charge as he spewed forth garbage of how their "Benefactors" were doing what was best for them.

Watched 24/7 by his own guards, Breen was not allowed to leave his Citadel, his luxury prison. And after fifteen years, Breen had begin to lie to himself. Maybe the "Combine" were right... maybe what they were doing was, somehow, beneficial to Humanity.

And so he thought that, again and again, for five more years. Breen had deluded himself into believing what he had been opposed against, and his superiors,"Advisors," began to see his full potential as a figurehead and a potential scapegoat for those under Combine rule.

And so Breen was content. But meanwhile, hidden away from his view, the Resistance formed. Led by former Black Mesa scientists Eli Vance, Isaac Kleiner and Arne Magnusson, the Resistance slowly grew larger and more powerful.

This, of course, was kept away from Dr. Breen, self-content figurehead of the Universal Union.

And so, when the Rebellion started, Dr. Breen had been horrified.

Even more so when Gordon Freeman, a former employee of his turned messiah, joined the Rebels and systematically made his way up through the Citadel to kill him.

And there Dr. Breen was, stuck in the final phase of a Combine Portal as Freeman tried to kill him. The chuckles resulting from Freeman using conventional weaponry turned to horror as he began to use his Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator to pick up and blast the Central Core Shields with Dark Energy pellets.

"No, stop!" Breen cried, only seeming to make Freeman go even faster. A third shield fell, colliding with a Gunship Synth.

Dr. Breen continued desperately, trying to reason with Freeman.

"You don't know what you will unleash, you could bring down this whole Citadel!"

That brought a momentary pause, before another shield piece was detached.

_That idiot_, Breen thought, _The resulting explosion could destabilize the entire grid and cause the city to be destroyed!_

"Think, man!" He continued. "Think of the people below!"

The second-to-last shield broke off, causing alarm bells to start ringing.

And for a moment, Dr. Breen came to his senses. The Combine had been using him, Breen now realized. Using him as a scapegoat... but now that he knew he had been betrayed...

He could help the Resistance and set things right, try to undo the damage he had caused. And with that thought, Breen looked up at Gordon. The final shield piece fell.

"No!" Breen cried, horrified. "You need me!"

Then darkness.

* * *

As the top of the Citadel was consumed in a deadly explosion, the body of Administrator Wallace Breen fell. In that world, his body was gone.

In another, his mind remained.

* * *

_There's my first chapter. Haven't edited any grammar errors yet, so feel free to point them out. Tell me what you think!_

_- Endless_


End file.
